Founder and Artistic Director of the Utopia Orchestra
Founder and Music Director of musicAeterna Orchestra and Choir
Chief conductor of the SWR Symphony Orchestra from 2018 to 2024
Teodor Currentzis was born in Greece, where he began studying music. In 1994, he entered St. Petersburg State Conservatory to study under the legendary professor Ilya Musin.
Together with his ensembles, Teodor Currentzis regularly tours Europe and the world with performances in numerous prestigious venues including Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonic, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Munich Philharmonic, Philharmonie de Paris, Kölner Philharmonie, Auditorio Nacional, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, and La Scala. As a stage conductor and musical director, Teodor Currentzis has worked with the leading opera theatres including Opéra de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro Real, and the Bolshoi Theatre.
He has also collaborated with the key figures in modern Western theatre: Robert Wilson, Romeo Castellucci, Peter Sellars, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Theodoros Terzopoulos, and others. Teodor Currentzis is a Resident Artist at the Salzburg Festival as well as at the RUHRtriennale Festival, festivals in Lucerne and Aix-en-Provence.
Works by Mozart, Mahler, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rameau, and Stravinsky released by Teodor Currentzis on Sony Classical record label have received numerous international music awards: ECHO Klassik, Edison Klassiek, Japanese Record Academy Award, and BBC Music Magazine’s Opera Award.Teodor Currentzis has received the Toepfer Foundation’s prestigious KAIROS Award. He has also been awarded the Greek Order of the Phoenix and the international Musikfest Bremen Award.
In 2024, Teodor Currentzis launched his own record label, Theta, in collaboration with Outhere Music. The label is named after the Greek letter Θ (Theta), a nod to Currentzis’s Greek heritage. Theta is focused on recording the vast repertoire performed by his various ensembles, beginning with Utopia. The first releases are devoted to Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, both scheduled for 2025. These recordings were made during extensive sessions at the orchestra’s creative residence in Funkhaus Berlin, a studio complex renowned for its exceptional acoustics.